US Army needs to sharpen up PTSD diagnosis

"COULD do better," says the report card of US army physicians diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder.

The evaluation comes from a US army report, published last week, that was prompted by allegations from 14 soldiers whose doctors had diagnosed them with PTSD. They claim that army officials pressured an evaluation board to change their diagnoses to avoid compensating them.

Independent reviewers found that since 2001, 6400 of 146,000 behavioural health diagnoses – which includes brain injury – had been altered, although these were just as frequently changed to PTSD as changed from it.

The report found no evidence of wrongdoing but says that PTSD evaluation practices could be improved. Data from the Veteran's Health Association suggests 16 per cent of veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have been treated for PTSD since 2001.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Difficult diagnosis"

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